Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami, Knopf, 2006.
In this new collection of short stories by Haruki Murakami, cats talk, willow trees pollinate sleeping women and it’s sometimes very hard to find a day to go to the zoo. No other author has such a talent for familiarizing elements of the surreal. With binding themes of loneliness, sexuality, love and loss Murakami weaves sparkling images of absurdity alongside the quotidian.. Though often read as a novelist, he proves in this edition that the short story is hardly a constriction of his talent. A smaller frame does not disturb the delicate balance of his craft, but makes each tale a perfectly-contained universe for the reader to explore and enjoy—twenty-five times over.
District and Circle, by Seamus Heaney, Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2006.
It’s fitting that 1995 Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney has long had an obsession with tools as subjects—spades, ploughs, sledgehammers. Though flecks of Irish bogs and meadows seem to cling to each line of his poetry, a metallic sharpness still shines through in evidence of his formidable power. District and Circle is the work of a lifelong poet who’s settled on his voice, his setting and his tone, but still manages unforeseen surprises in the arrangement of the constellation.
Bowerman and the Men of Oregon: The Story of Oregon’s Legendary Coach and Nike’s Co-Founder, by Kenny Moore, Rodale Books, 2006.
Running shoes, the Nike swoop, the quest for the four minute mile—ubiquitous in the life of a runner or sports fan. Even the most dedicated harriers, however, probably blank at the name “Bill Bowerman,” who is largely responsible for them all. As a University of Oregon running coach in the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s, Bowerman revolutionized traditional ideas about training and attire and went on to become co-founder of Nike. This biography by former Sports Illustrated writer Kenny Moore not only gives Bowerman some well-deserved attention, but uses him as a lens to explore the history of running itself.
